Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Coping with IVF stress

There is no question that doing IVF is stressful. It can be hard to deal with this stress because the major problem with the IVF cycle is the uncertainty of the outcome. No matter how hard you work, no matter how good your doctor is, no matter how beautiful your uterus is or how gorgeous your embryos are , you can never be really sure whether the cycle will end in a baby or not. This uncertainty can be nerve wracking for the patient.

I agree that while it's no fun coming to me for IVF , not having a baby can be stressful too ! The right time to come for IVF treatment is when stress of trying to make a baby in the bedroom is more than the stress of coming to me. I tell my patients that coming to Dr Malpani should actually be a stress relief mechanism . IVF represents your best chance of having a baby , and we are going to give you the best shot possible , so that you can achieve your goals as quickly as possible.

This is why we spend a lot of time counselling our patients, preparing them for the ups and downs of the IVF cycle . We try to hand hold them as much as possible, but no matter what we do, patients have to tap into their own emotional resilience . For some patients, it can be one of the most stressful things they have ever done in their life . For other patients , who are more mature, and who have seen more of life, they find that because they have dealt with a lot more difficult situations in the past, they can cope with the IVF cycle with ease.

I think this is the key - that it's not so much the stress of the cycle itself, as compared to how the patient chooses to cope with the stress . Complaining about the injection pain or feeling sorry for yourself just makes matters worse. Mature patients go through an IVF cycle without batting an eyelid, because they take the approach that they should be grateful that at least they have the financial means to be able to take advantage of this technology !

Patients need to find that internal strength within themselves , and for the ones who do that, coping with an IVF cycle becomes much easier. Having realistic expectations of success helps to make the ride much easier !